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Custom Home Built on Wrong Lot. How?

Did you hear about this story in Florida?

Missouri residents, Mark and Brenda Voss, own a lot in a gated resort community called Ocean Hammock in Ormond Beach, Florida. Six months after working with a builder to construct their large custom home overlooking the ocean, the couple learned devastating news. It was built on the wrong lot.

The three-story vacation rental home, with construction value of $680,000, is actually sitting on the lot next to the own they own.

Keystone Homes, the builder, is working to negotiate a settlement. The company vice president, Robbie Richmond, is quoted to say “I have built about 600 homes in Flagler County and this has never happened to me before. It does happen, but it’s rare.”

Mark and Brenda Voss own 18 other residential lots in the Hammock Dunes community. The lot with the address of 23 Ocean Ridge Boulevard North was purchased in June of 2012 for $160,000. The home is actually situated on the property of 21 Ocean Ridge Boulevard North.

The Vosses hired Keystone Homes to design and build a 5,000 square-foot home which they planned to use as a vacation rental. Which Keystone Homes did. It’s a boastful five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home with home theatre, game room and screened-in pool.

The builder and Voss indicated the first survey in 2013 is the root of the error. Stakes were misplaced and the foundation survey and other building activity documents were based on the error. It was noted that even during construction, subcontractors arrived each day to work at the wrong lot. The final survey failed to note the error. Building inspectors went on without noticing the error, with focus more on the construction process than the survey.

Flagler County granted a certificate of occupancy in March, a title insurance policy was issued for 23 Ocean Ridge Boulevard North, but the home sits on 21 Ocean Ridge Boulevard North.

The home has frequently been rented; it wasn’t until six months after construction was completed that a survey crew working nearby discovered the error and notified the community manager, who then reached out to Keystone Homes to discuss the problem.

So, now the next step is to find a resolution. The most obvious is to have the owners of 23 and 21 Ocean Ridge Boulevard North simply switch lots. But, Voss is cautious to sign off too quickly on that.